RED BULL: BUILDING BRAND EQUITY IN NON-TRADITIONAL Ways

Case Study Solution Drone Tewatia (15B)

Q1. Justify the title “Building Brand Equity in Non-Traditional Ways”?

Q2: Describe Red bull’s Sources of Brand Equity? Do these sources change?

Below answer is considering both the above questions:

Ans 1& 2: Brand Equity is earned over time and is defined as the differentiated consumer response
for any promotion/ policy of the brand. The brands are able to generate Brand Resonance, by which
they are able to generate recall & recognition of the brand by developing Brand Knowledge which
consumer has accumulated over the years and leads to a response from consumer with respect to
products:

Brand Knowledge is the generated over time by following attributes:

• Awareness – It is energy drink (functional drink)

• Association – see below
• Attitude – Premium drink which gives you wings and differentiate you and your experience.
• Thoughts – Advertisement of cartoons
• Insight – Sharing technical details of product ingredients.
• Feeling – feeling of extreme power, confidence & relaxation
• Emotions – Emotional connect with party people & promotion by sports activities.

Key Sources of Brand Equity are: Product, Packaging, Image, Associations, Positioning, Name, Slogan,
Non-tangible attributes, etc.

The case has been titled Building brand Equity in Non-Traditional Way as from the case it is clear that
the sources of Brand Equity for Red Bull have always used Non-Traditional Methods for building the
Brand Equity, we take each source separately for analysis as below

Name: Red Bull is a unique name, given to the drink, which symbolize the Power & Energy within a
can of this drink.

Red Bull has always been skilfully connecting with youth around the globe & they are doing it
differently.

Slogan: “It Gives You Wiiings”

Logo: The Logo or symbol of red bull in which Two red colour bulls are facing each other is a
justification to product, where brand wants to communicate the energy provided by this particular
drink is equivalent to the red energised bulls who are ready to give their best.

Non-Tangible benefits:

• Improves physical endurance

• Stimulates metabolism and helps eliminates waste substances
• Improves overall feeling of well-being
• Improves reaction speed and concentration
• Increases mental alertness
RED BULL: BUILDING BRAND EQUITY IN NON-TRADITIONAL Ways
Case Study Solution Drone Tewatia (15B)

Product: As a product Red Bull has been totally differentiated from the Traditional Cold drinks

• It had created a new category in Europe which Is Functional Food

• Product was sweet and Carbonated but also has medicinal taste, although it is not a
medicine
• Product contents (Caffeine, Taurine, Glucuronolactone) which were not traditional as
the point when it was launched

Positioning: Red Bull positioning was never as a cold drink

• Red Bull energy drink is a functional drink, which provides you wing whenever you need
them
• Not considering any occasion in their promotion and positioning it as anytime drink,
elastic positioning, against traditional drink.
• It was positioned as a drink which Revitalizes body and mind.
• It was not a traditional restaurant drink, where as it was a nutritional drink.
• Encourage Product availability in store and creating awareness.

Packaging: Normally cold drinks are available in various packages and sizes and packaging varies
across countries but in case of Red Bull

• Packaging was limited to a 250 ml can with attractive Blue and Silver colour.
• Two Red Bulls logo mentioned on each can, Energy drink being captured, differentiating
from traditional cold drinks
• Packaging remained same over the years and each country.
• No Packaging discounts for bulk orders, which other product provide traditionally.

Relationships: Red Bull was always associated with something which is full of energy

• They associated with extreme adventure sports, athletics, sports activities

• They never targeted any particular age segment, the product was targeted to every-one
and all time, they connected to students, party people, sports person, working
executives, etc.
• The drink created an association with its consumers in different way by providing them
premium drink.

There are many more ways in which Red Bull has build brand equity thru Non-Traditional way as:

Integrated marketing Communication plans: creating large displays in stores and creating new
target markets

Pre-marketing, sponsoring events, endorsed by sports athletes and entertainment celebrities.

Through understanding of consumer needs, emotions & activities are essential to ensure the
accuracy & relevance of the message.

For example, Red Bull Soapbox Race, Red Bull flying day

Extreme sports, sponsor athletes, Enhance brand image which links to brand equity, Costing, Limited
target audiences,

These brand elements put Red Bull’s brand awareness into consumers’ (or potential) mind.
RED BULL: BUILDING BRAND EQUITY IN NON-TRADITIONAL Ways
Case Study Solution Drone Tewatia (15B)

Product Sampling – Sampling takes place at ideal usage occasions.

For example, concerts and festivals

Word of Mouth – Strategy involved is going to bars, clubs and shops that are popular with Red Bull’s
target market.

Event Marketing – By ensuring that Red Bull has either invented or has brought product to the
event.

Red Bull is making brand image by taking these marketing programs that link strong, favourable and
unique associations to the brand in memory.

For example:

Sport Events. Sampling program, point-of purchases marketing, cartoon advertising

The overall whole brand equity is successful in case of Red Bull to create the brand equity.

• Initial focus to create the niche segment and then spreading out to the whole target makes a
lot of sense.
• Red Bull Adopted the best media called as word of mouth for marketing
• The functional category was brand new category, extreme sports lover was fascinated to try
the product.
• Red Bull also engaged in “pre-marketing” to establish awareness in markets where product
was not yet sold.
• Their attempt to create the broad range of consumers. “students, drivers, clubbers, business
people and sports people” Bye using this strategy Red Bull grew into numerous markets
segments. Red Bull achieved its highest penetration in the range of 14-19age range.

Brand Elements change?

PROMOTION

In Austria:

Slogan: Red Bull gives you wiiings, type of simulation drink, channel marketing, billboard advertising,
launching product nationwide,

In UK:

Slogan: Never Underestimate what red bull can do for you,

Sport drink, marketing by woed of mouth, electronic media advertising

Packaging

• Risking the perception of their brand that has been developed over the years.
• Fast food chains risky to the ‘healthy image’ of the brand.
• Should not use the same name for multiple different brands.
• 'Carpe Diem' is a term which means to make the most of the current situation this could
again result in confusion.
RED BULL: BUILDING BRAND EQUITY IN NON-TRADITIONAL Ways
Case Study Solution Drone Tewatia (15B)

• Not much else to expand from energy drinks.

Marketing program of Red Bull was very unique and below are the key ways in which these
contributed to Brand Equity

Advertising:
Their advertising techniques are „Red Bull vitalizes body and mind‟ and „Red Bull gives you wiiings‟.
The Red Bull animated ads were adopted uniformly across the company’s global market.

Word of Mouth Publicity

Before entering to other parts of Europe, Red Bull has built as strong word of mouth publicity

Event Promotions:

Red Bull had extensive network of events that it was involved with. When Red Bull created the
event, it controlled all aspects of the event, including the name, logo, promotion, and media
production. Classic Red Bull owned events included the Red Bull Soapbox Race and the Red Bull
Flugtag “Flying Day”

Sports Marketing:

Generally Red Bull sponsored individual athletes. Red Bull engaged in sports marketing first and
foremost to establish credibility among opinion leaders who participated in action sports such
snowboarding, skydiving, skateboarding, rock climbing, mountain biking, and many other non-
mainstream athletic endeavours. Red Bull became an international brand; it is able to sign influential
and leading athlete

Sampling:

Product trial was an essential part of the Red Bull marketing. Red Bull sampling campaigns took
place at concerts, parties, festivals, sporting events, at the beach, at the high way rest areas (for
tried drivers), and at campus libraries. Aside from sampling, student managers research drinking
trends, designed on campus marketing initiatives and wrote stories for student newspaper

POP Marketing: Point of Purchase:

Red Bull’s primary point – of-purchase tool was the branded refrigerated sales unit. These
refrigerators set the brand apart from other beverages and ensured Red Bull a prominent location in
the retail environment. Red Bull hired teams of delivery van drivers whose sole responsibility was
stocking Red Bull. Red Bull limited the use of posters, shelf talkers, and ceiling hangers instore by the
stocking facility.